Hehe. That picture is the back of my head. That's Wally Liverance. Talking about the 7000 years. I know who took that picture too.
All I can tell you after 6 years is that uh, he had it wrong. ;)
AllTimeJeff
JoinedPosts by AllTimeJeff
-
43
Seven Thousand Year Creative Day still being taught (as of 2005)
by VM44 inhere is a photo of a gilead instructor (br.
liverance) teaching a class on chronology.. the photo appears in a blog entry dated 5-21-2005.. note the "6,000" and "1,000" periods in the timeline drawn on the whiteboard.. i thought the 7,000 year creative day was no longer taught, but apparently it still is at gilead, at least in the year 2005.. (picture cannot be embedded here for some reason, so here is the link to it).
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ydnht0xya-4/sbukuolyzei/aaaaaaaaacs/t-rgxaammbg/s1600-h/chronology+%28br.+liverance%29.jpg.
-
-
-
31
So What's the Point?
by AllTimeJeff ini am back after several months to tell you all that i am cured!
that's right, i am no longer an ex jw.
i can go around and pretend that i was never knocking on doors.
-
-
AllTimeJeff
First of all, hi there. I am back after several months to tell you all that I am CURED! That's right, I am no longer an ex JW. I can go around and pretend that I was never knocking on doors. Just like season 8 of Dallas, it never happened.
No wait, I am supposed to be pissed off forever. Forgot, sorry.
Actually, I don't mean to be preachy. I took some time off from this site just to see if I would notice JW's in normal life. I didn't. They don't come to my door. They have KH's all over the place, but no one cares about them.
I know why I care, why we care. We were in it.
I always felt (speaking for me) that my mistake was thinking I needed to "save" JW's. YOU don't need saving.
It is amusing to see the variety of different points of view on this site. So many people thinking they are right. And they are right. For them.
What's right for you?
That's the only question you need to work out. It doesn't matter to me whether you or I disagree. Yeah, I think a lot of people don't have it right. As I recall in my past, I left the company of people I disagree with.
The point to me after being out for several years now is to simply be done with the angst if possible. Being angry and negative I KNOW is wrong.
Beyond that, you're on your own. No really, you always were. Listen to yourself, learn to trust yourself. You are fundamentally ok. You always were. :)
-
-
-
AllTimeJeff
The ultimate hypocrisy is that Jehovah's Witnessees are taught that their main activity of preaching, which in actuality is a 100 year old + campaign designed to get people of other faiths to look at critical and unflattering aspects of their traditions with the explicit aim of getting them to leave and then convert to the JW point of view.....
.... is exactly what JW's are not allowed to do.
They cannot examine with freedom unflattering aspects of their history, nor to ponder what all of the failed prophecies and questionable decisions in their totality show as to the JW claim of being the one true religion.
If ANY religion had in the 20th century, produced the sheer amount of garbage that the WTBTS has, (as demonstrated by Terry's montage) the Watchtower would publish it as evidence of a lying religion in 3 straight months of magazines.
To bad, they are the liars.
The truth is, the only religion that JW's can't examine, or point out the negative history about, is their own.
Lying, thieving hypocrites. That is the real truth about JW's.
-
-
-
AllTimeJeff
Barr was nice. Didn't assert himself while all kinds of ridiculousness surrounded him. I give him props for not letting the smell of his own shit intoxicate him. Beyond that, he went along with the GB cabal for over 30 years. He was at best an enabler of religious and spiritual abuse.
Sometimes, even former JW's wonder why Ray Franz is given the respect he gets when for decades he supported the organization. The answer lies in his bizarro opposite, Jack Barr.
Both were considered humble men who actually cared about the people they ruled over oversaw. The difference was that Ray spoke out. Jack Barr didn't. He went along with all of it. I don't really care if Ray was an ass, and Barr was really super nice. Ray was principled. Barr wasn't. End of story as far as I am concerned.
I have always maintained that most elder bodies are like the GB. A bunch of men with power, who consider more personnel issues then bible doctrine. Barr was privy to it all. Regardless of his reasons for going along with it all, the fact is, that he went along with it all. He knew about the pedophiles. The changed prophecies. Anyone at Bethel can tell you that personalities rule among the GB.
I am sure Barr hoped "Jehovah" would take care of matters in his time. It's always the excuse of cowards to wait for someone else to act when they have the power to do something. If you have the power, do something, or otherwise, here's your sign. COWARD.
-
-
-
AllTimeJeff
May he rest in peace.
He led the life of Riley on the surface, living into his 90's, never having to pay for anything.
Yet, it's hard to be at peace when you know what he did. The pedophile issues. Generation changes. Watching the very clear personality issues and conflicts on a body of leaders that should have exemplified godliness, and instead, glorified politics and pettiness.
He watched all the prophecies NOT come true. Sadly, he had to go to bed at night, if not admitting, then at least knowing on some level, that he, they, "we" were wrong.
So he might be at rest. I doubt the being at peace part.
-
15
The Greatest Gift (no one is guaranteed tomorrow)
by AllTimeJeff ini was watching a movie on cable this week, and was impressed.
it was about a woman who chose prostitution, in part to live out a life of lust.
the movie is more about her journey to learn about herself.
-
-
AllTimeJeff
It's not that leaving JW's is a happy thing, because we all need to learn, or relearn a lot of things about the world. We need to learn how to see ourselves again. In some cases, we may not know who we truly are.
Believe me, if you are just leaving, there is no way you are happy right now on certain levels. The fact that life is so short though, to me, means that we don't spend any more time being angry and bitter then we have to, and move on.
I know its been said so many times here before, and I hope it doesn't become trite, but the best revenge against the GB is to live well and be happy. They are the ones who say if you leave that you are angry and without hope. Puleeze! The more former JW's go on to live normal, happy lives, the better for the group that wants to leave. It's also another false prophecy by the GB.
I remember so many times as an elder talking about those who had left, and how they couldn't possibly be happy. I didn't understand of course. We all comforted ourselves by saying "WE" were happy while "THEY" couldn't possibly be happy. That's what JW's do. That's how they are trained to think. That's why it is imperative that if we really want to prove the GB wrong, the only thing to do is move on without them and be happy.
It's never that simple. But happiness is a journey, not a destination. It all starts with that first step.
-
15
The Greatest Gift (no one is guaranteed tomorrow)
by AllTimeJeff ini was watching a movie on cable this week, and was impressed.
it was about a woman who chose prostitution, in part to live out a life of lust.
the movie is more about her journey to learn about herself.
-
-
AllTimeJeff
I was watching a movie on cable this week, and was impressed. It was about a woman who chose prostitution, in part to live out a life of lust. The movie is more about her journey to learn about herself. In the end, she was reminded by a couple of people that the real key to life is the decision to be happy, to enjoy each day as a gift, which is what it is. No one is guaranteed tomorrow. It was an interesting character study.
The character's epiphany reminded me of my mother's last lesson to me before she died earlier this year from cancer. It was simple. "Be happy."
It was sort of ironic to me in that she really wasn't that happy most of her life. Yet here she was, her life cut short, but the last thing she wanted to pass onto me as her son was the one thing she never figured out for herself. She didn't want me to deal with what she had to deal with. Deep down, she knew (as we talked) that many of her decisions, while on the one hand liberating, also contributed to where she was.
I have had my good and great, bad and horrible days since leaving JW's. In all of those days, I had to deal with bitterness and regret about what could have been.
I read something last week, which I am sure is not in any way a new concept, but it struck me. The statement is simple, yet so true: "You can't lose what you never had."
You can't lose what you never had.
I stress that because I see on this board, and know it's true with me, that there are many who feel cheated out of something they never had. As if it weren't for being a JW, all we thought could have happened to us, would have happened to us.
You can't lose that first love you wanted, because it didn't happen. You can't lose that college experience, because it didn't happen.
Could've should've would've.
If that sounds bad, just wait a second. Because you can love. You can go to college. You can still do so much, if that's what you really want to do. It just has to start now, not in the past, thats all.
And it starts with a pretty basic concept. At some level, we can decide, not to "be happy", but to start a life that will make us happy.
This last election saw bitter politics, involving bitter politicians trying to get bitter voters to vote for them. It was and is all about, who to blame.
Blame doesn't equal accountability. Blame is fake accountability. That goes for the government, and it goes for former JW's as well.
We can sit and pretend we lost something we never had, and never realize that the more we try to get back what we never had, we will lose the only future we have ahead of us.
We can blame JW's for the hurt, and make sure "we hold them accountable." Or we can realize that there is only thing we are accountable for, and that is our future.
Even if we are older and have a smaller time left, we are still ALIVE!
Each day is a gift.
When will we realize that the real power JW's still have over those who have left is the bitterness they engender.
When you think of all the bullshit false prophecies that the Governing Body ever uttered, the only one that they ever got right is that former JW's are bitter.
I realize that's not all of the story. But think about it. They are bully's. Bully's thrive on predictable, reactive behavior. Who is better at being predictable and reactive then former JW's?
I write this as stream of consciousness, if only to say, to the extent that you and I can move on, not be bitter, and take whatever is left of our life, whether it is long or short, and make it the absolute best we can, then we no longer empower those bastards.
We have no power over Jehovah's Witnesses or the Governing Body. Only ourselves, our outlook, and the next 3 or 4 decisions over the next couple of days.
What will those decisions be? Will we decide to embrace our life, and make the best of where we are?
Enjoy life. Be happy. Let go of anger and bitterness. You don't have to bring down Jehovah's Witnesses, or revel in the misery. We only need to recover, and move on.
Be happy.
Love you all! :)
-
34
NEED HELP ASAP
by BoomTown inmy wife is bitter towards the organization right now and is finally willing to talk about flaws without her shutting down.
what is the easiest way to prove the witnesses don't have the "the single truth" of the bible?.
today i said to her, "you are probably worried about leaving because you think "what if they are right and armageddon comes.
-
-
-
34
NEED HELP ASAP
by BoomTown inmy wife is bitter towards the organization right now and is finally willing to talk about flaws without her shutting down.
what is the easiest way to prove the witnesses don't have the "the single truth" of the bible?.
today i said to her, "you are probably worried about leaving because you think "what if they are right and armageddon comes.
-
-
AllTimeJeff
The best thing you can do is get her to listen to herself. What is she seeing? Draw her out. Let her hear herself think.
The biggest worry of the GB isn't apostate voices, it's you listening to your own voice. Ultimately, what she sees, and what she is willing to admit to herself, is the key to her own exit.
Like the Eagle's sang
Well I know it wasn’t you who held me down
Heaven knows it wasn’t you who set me free
So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key
Get her to see it for herself. Don't tell her, help her to get it out. -
49
What made you start questioning: people or doctrine?
by In inlet us know what got you questioning wbts in the first place.
i've got a theory that it starts with people hurting us and only then does the "apostate" turn to looking at the beliefs.. anybody who started questioning beliefs first?.
-
-
AllTimeJeff
Doctrine. First by a long way.
The people, well, I had people I liked and loved. I couldn't get over how many damaged people JW's were attracting, as opposed to "normal" people who politely turned us down at the doors.
The people were always secondary in my evaluation of "da troof". I never begrudged damaged people for needing something to hang on to, it just seemed after a while that, there had to be a better way. And I didn't want to end up damaged all my life.
In the end, it doesn't matter how or why one leaves. If they do, it only matters what they do with the time after their exit.